General Awareness

Anna Hazare Effect on Indian Polity

When Congress was fighting hard to either cover up or make up for all the scams that has ruined its name and soaring inflation, a name emerged in the Indian Political scene and turned the entire situation upside down. The name was Anna Hazare. In the starting of 2011, Anna Hazare launched his anti corruption movement. Anna Hazare proposed that the government should pass the Jan Lokpal bill, a form of parallel justice system, to curb the corruption in the country. The demand for the bill led to a bitter fight between the government and the team of Anna Hazare.

When the government clearly denied passing the Jan Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare sat on a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Due to the inability of the government to pass a strict Jan Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare decided to sit on an indefinite hunger strike on the 15th of August.

When Anna Hazare finally reached the Ram Lila ground for his indefinite fast, the country witnessed a political movement like it had never seen before. Huge crowds of people from different parts of the country gathered together to lend their support to the Anna Hazare Anti-Corruption movement. Anna Hazare became the face of new age refined politics where the people’s demand is that the politicians are supposed to work for the people and not for themselves. Funds poured in from the rich and the poor and the not so fortunate lend their support by volunteering for the movement. From the Dabbawalas in Mumbai to farmers from rural India, all came together to support the Anna Hazare anti corruption movement. One of the things that Anna Hazare succeeded in doing was awakening the country and bringing them together to prove that in a democracy, the people are still the biggest power in the democracy.

The movement created and led by Anna Hazare made many wonder how Anna Hazare and his movement had affected the Indian politics and how it would determine its face and character in future. Here are some of things that the Anna’s anti-corruption movement changed:

1.Anna Hazare Movement reminded people of their power: In a democracy, the biggest power is the people. However, this power manifests itself in the form of individual entities and till the time when the individuals come together as one, this power seems far little than it actually is. One of the greater things that the Anna Hazare Corruption movement did was enlighten people and bring them in a single thread to fight against corruption. The people of India, now know, that if they come together as one and demand for something which is objectively and subjectively right, the government, all consuming and all powerful it maybe, but it will have to kneel down in front of the people. The Anna Hazare’ s anti-corruption movement proved that if people unite as one, even the most powerful government will be forced to take notice and act.

2.It exposed the face of corruption and the will in people to fight against it: The truth is that corruption is prevalent in every step of the every rung of the Indian Society. People curse corruption and yet indulge in it. The Anna Hazare Movement has inspired people to finally stand up against the wrong practice of corruption. Even a common man thinks twice before bribing a policeman. People have become inspired to fight against corruption and do their bit in erasing it from the society.

3.It will be detrimental in defining the new age politics: In times of to come, many movements will draw inspiration from Anna Hazare’s magnetic Anti Corruption movement. It was non-violent, within the legal ambits and turned out to be the most powerful movement of our times. The Jan Lokpal Bill will make some difference in the society. Jan Lokpal Bill entails the creation of a parallel system of governance in which the Jan Lokpal along with his team will look into matters of corruption reported by people to the authorities. The Jan Lokpal Bill, if implemented well by the government, can be pivotal in erasing corruption from India. The only reason why corruption is so prevalent in this country is because there are no strict laws against corruption in this country and the laws that do exist are never implemented well. Anyone can report cases of corruption to the Jan Lokpal and it will be the duty of the head and his team to look into the matter and solve the case. Since the current system of justice has been a complete failure at erasing corruption, a parallel system should be given way so that it may make a difference in the society.

Anna Hazare is fighting for a good cause. The truth is that Jan Lokpal Bill is a powerful stipulation and if implemented properly and honestly, it can prove to be very effective. Some people may claim that Anna Hazare’s ways are unconstitutional. It may be so but with the kind of support that Anna has from the people, he does not have much to worry about. The Government had been forced to kneel infront of Anna Hazare many times and it is not long before the government will also be forced to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill. All it took to shake the government is one man- Anna Hazare.

For such topics of Basic understanding on the subject matter which will keep you motivated to crack GD & PI at CAT 2011, NMAT, XAT, SNAP and forthcoming exams Feb.MAT2012, ATMA, MHCET 2012, CMAT 2012 along with various other state specific MBA entrance tests. This would also be useful for WAT, Extempore speaking, Essays.